1186-1203.
mvp-comment-671-1
Man walketh in a vain shadow, he appears, and is not. What lot could seem more blest than Oedipus'? who slew the monster, saved our state and took the kingdom for his own? € ἰὼ CA. γενεαί] γεναὶ L. ἰὼὡς γενεαὶ C6. But now what woe is like to his; plunged by reverse of fortune in cruel misery? O glorious Oedipus! how art thou sunk into an abyss of infamy, too long concealed. Time that sees all hath found thee. And I, unblest in knowing thee, must weep thy fall. Yet thou wast he that gave me respite and repose.' The rhythms of this ode are less elaborate than those of the three former, and convey a more direct utterance of feeling. α'. β'. } } 5 } ICCICI IICCICI ICCICI IICCICI IにトCCICI にートCCICI UILCCICI ICCII CCしトC!CICI CCICーしー ILCICIC lulca LUICI いいーしに CCLCIC LUCICICLICCICICI LCCLCICIC. 5 10 The first strophe and antistrophe, expressing solemn regret, consist each of three regular glyconic logaoedic systems, the second, giving vent to a more passionate mournfulness, are iambic and trochaic, returning to the smoother logaoedic rhythm in the last three lines. Syncope of thesis' occurs in ll. 1, 4, 9, 10, of β'.
1187.
mvp-comment-672-1
ἴσα καὶ τὸ μηδέν Cp. Thuc. 3.14, ἴσα καὶ ἱκέται ἐσμέν.
1188.
mvp-comment-673-1
ζώσας While ye are in life,' with allusion to the common reflection attributed to Solon that none are to be called happy till after death. Cp. infr. 1528-1530.
1190.
mvp-comment-674-1
φέρει Cp. 590, νῦν μὲν γὰρ ἐκ σοῦ πάντ᾽ ἄνευ φόβου φέρω.
1191.
mvp-comment-675-1
δοκεῖν Sc. εὐδαίμων εἶναι.
1192.
mvp-comment-676-1
ἀποκλῖναι 'Το decline,' like the westering sun. Hdt. 3. 104-104. 181, ἀποκλινομένης δὲ τῆς ἡμέρης. Cp. Shak. Sonnet 90: 'Nativity, once in the main of light, Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crowned, | Crooked eclipses
gainst his glory fight, | And Time that gave doth now his gift confound. Also the words spoken of Xerxes by the Greeks in Hdt. 7. 203, ὀφείλειν . . ὡς ἐύντα θνητὸν ἀπὸ τῆς δύξης πεσέειν ἄν.
1193.
mvp-comment-677-1
τὸ σόν τοι παράδειγμ
Having thy example before me. Schol. τὸν σὸν βίον.. παράδειγμα ἔχων, οὐδένα μακαἐκράτησε Μ². ρίζω καὶ εὐδαιμονίζω. It is by no means clear from this, as Schndw. supposed, that the Scholiast read τὸν σόν. For he may have taken τὸ σόν substantively as = τὸν σὸν βίον. The reading in the text is simpler and more natural than τὸν σόν, although it requires παράδειγμα to be repeated in a different construction after τὸν σὸν δαίμονα.
1196.
mvp-comment-678-1
The conjecture of Hermann, οὐδὲν μακαρίζω, which avoids the unusual resolution of the arsis of a glyconic line, is otherwise probable. Cp. Fr. 652, Άρης γὰρ οὐδὲν τῶν κακῶν *λωτίζεται: Hom. Hymn to Aphrodite 34, οὔπερ τι πεφυγμένον ἔστ᾽ Ἀφροδίτην | οὔτε θεῶν μακάρων οὔτε θνητῶν ἀνθρώπων.
1197.
mvp-comment-679-1
ὅστις
Oedipus who.. The indefinite relative gives the ground of the preceding statement.
1197.
mvp-comment-679-2
καθ' ὑπερβολὰν τοξεύσας
Having shot with surpassing skill, i. e. Having hit the solution of the riddle which all others missed.
1198.
mvp-comment-680-1
ἐκράτησε . . ὄλβου
Became lord of all prosperity. The reading ἐκράτησε, required by the metre, is confirmed by ἀνέστα, which has the best authority. The transition from the 2nd to the 3rd person, in 1197, and again to the 2nd in 1202, has led to the confusion. Cp. Tr. 94-101. Heimsoeth conj. ἐκύρησε.
1200.
mvp-comment-681-1
χρησμῳδόν Because, though the songs of the Sphinx were not literally prophetic, their interpretation involved the fate of Thebes.
1200.
mvp-comment-681-2
θανάτων .. ἀνέστα
And to my country he arose as a tower of defence from death. For the dative, cp. Aj. 36, 7, φύλαξ ἔβην τῇ σῇ.. κυναγίᾳ, and for the gen. θανάτων, Essay on Language § 9. β. 2. p. 13. For the return to the indicative from the participle, see Essay on Language § 36. p. 64. Elmsley conjectured ἀναστάς.
1202.
mvp-comment-682-1
ἐξου
Whence, i. e. since and because of this.
1202.
mvp-comment-682-2
ἐμός Herm. for the metre ἀμός.
1204.
mvp-comment-683-1
ἀκούειν
To hear of thee; epexegetic infinitive. Cp. El. 664, πρέπει γὰρ ὡς τύραννος εἰσορᾶν.
1205.
mvp-comment-684-1
†τίς ἐν πόνοις, τίς ἄταις ἀγρίαις There is a want of perfect correspondence between the metre of strophe and antistrophe (しーしーーーー =C ?). The right mode of correction, if correction is necessary, is uncertain. The phrase ἄταις ἀγρίαις ξύνοικος (cp. Αj. 611, θείᾳ μανίᾳ ξύναυλος, supr. 337-338, ὁμοῦ ναίουσαν, and note) is at any rate much more expressive than the transposition adopted by some editors, τίς άταις ἀγρίαις, τίς ἐν πόνοις; The words as they stand may be rendered Who more in woe, who more associated with fierce calamities in life's reverse?' The comparative notion contained in ἀθλιώτερος is continued.
1207.
mvp-comment-685-1
κλεινόν Recalling l. 8, ὁ πᾶσι κλεινὸς Οἰδίπους καλούμενος.
1208.
mvp-comment-686-1
The Scholiast suggests two possible interpretations of which the former is preferable. (1) ᾧ ὑποδοχὴ εἰς τὸ ἄμφω δέξασθαι, σὲ καὶ τὸν πατέρα. (2) ἢ ὅτι μητὴρ ἦν καὶ γυνὴ ἡ Ἰοκάστη, ἣν λέγει λιμένα. (1)
In whose case the same wide harbour served for son and father to enter as a bridegroom. The natural construction, ᾧ.. καὶ πατρί, is modified for the sake of emphasizing the antithesis by the addition of παιδί, and the dative is left in a loose construction with the whole sentence, with an ethical' force, i. e.
to whose confusion.
1211.
mvp-comment-687-1
πατρῷαι.. ἄλοκες ‘The furrows of thy father's field.' Cp. infr. 1256-1257, 1497-1498; Aesch. S. c. Τ. 752, ματρὸς ἁγνὰν σπείρας ἄρουραν ἵν᾽ ἐτράφη: Ant. 569, ἀρώσιμοι γὰρ χἀτέρων εἰσὶν γύαι.
1213.
mvp-comment-688-1
ἐφεῦρέ σ᾽ ἄκονθ'
Has surprised thee with a discovery thou didst not intend. The result of the inquiry is contrasted with its outset, supr. 132.
1214.
mvp-comment-689-1
δικάζει Sc. σε.
Convicts thee. For the asyndeton, which may be explained by the intensity of the language, see Essay on Language p. 59. τόν is expressive.
1214.
mvp-comment-689-2
τὸν ἄγαμον, κ.τ.λ. (1)
Of all the while being son as well as husband in that unholy marriage. γάμον is cognate accusative (Essay on Language § 17. p. 24) after some word, such as ὀπυίοντα, for which the phrase τεκνοῦντα καὶ τεκνούμενον is substituted. As infr. 1403 ff., the concrete is intended under the abstract noun. When the marriage is spoken of, Jocasta is thought of. The expression is unusual, and yet γεννῶντα τὸν αὐτὸν γάμον ὃν ἐγεννήθης might be said even in prose. Cp. supr. 1210. Otherwise γάμον may be taken as accusative in regimen, and the participles either (2) as agreeing with σε and added in further explanation of γάμον:
Condemns the unholy marriage, condemns thee who art at once sire and son: or (3), the participles agreeing with γάμον,
Condemns the marriage in which father and son are one. For the use of the passive verb in this case, see Essay on Language § 31, 3, c. P. 54.
1216.
mvp-comment-690-1
There is a syllable wanting to correspond to the antistrophe. Herm. supplies ὦ before τέκνον. Bothe conj.
1216.
mvp-comment-690-2
Λαϊήϊον. 1217. There is no reasonable doubt as to the soundness of Wunder's emendation, although such repetitions are much less frequent in Sophocles than in Euripides.
1218.
mvp-comment-691-1
εἰδόμαν Essay on Language § 31. P. 52.
1219.
mvp-comment-692-1
δύρομαι γὰρ ὡς περίαλλ' ἰαχέων]
I mourn without measure, straining my voice with cries. For the quantity of ἰαχέων, cp. Eur. Or. 826, Med. 204, alib. With περίαλλος, cp. ὑπέραλλος in Pind. Nem. 3. 33, ὑπέραλλον αἰχμάν.
1219.
mvp-comment-692-2
ἐκ στομάτων, like ἐκ θυμοῦ,
with my whole power of utterance.
1219.
mvp-comment-692-3
τὸ δ᾽ ὀρθὸν εἰπεῖν
But to say the truth.
1224-1225.
mvp-comment-693-1
ὅσον δ᾽ ἀρεῖσθε πένθος
What mourning will be yours! αἴρεσθαι πένθος is to assume the burden of grief.
1225.
mvp-comment-694-1
ἐγγενῶς i. e. πρεπόντως τοῖς ἐν γένει,
with the feeling of kindred. Cp. Thuc. 2.60, οὐκ ἂν ὁμοίως τι οἰκείως φρά- Coi. The Theban elders are closely allied by descent to the royal house of Cadmus. Cp. supr. 911, χώρας ἄνακτες : Ant. 988, Θήβης άνακτες.
1227.
mvp-comment-695-1
Cp. Aesch. Cho. 72, πόροι τε πάντες ἐκ μιᾶς ὁδοῦ βαίνοντες τὸν χερομυσῆ φόνον καθαίροντες ῥέουσιν μάτην: Ant. 1284, δυσκάθαρτος Ἅιδου λιμήν.
1228.
mvp-comment-696-1
καθαρμῷ Dative of manner used proleptically = ὥστε καθαρὸν εἶναι. Cp. Shak. Macbeth, 2. 1,
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood | Clean from this hand?-no, this my hand will rather | The multitudinous seas incarnadine, | Making the greenone red.
The Greeks exaggerated the size of distant rivers.
1228.
mvp-comment-696-2
ὅσα κεύθει
Of all that it hides. Cp. Aesch. Ag. 1189, κῶμος ἐν δόμοις μένει | δύσπεμπτος ἔξω, συγγόνων Ἐρινύων.
1229.
mvp-comment-697-1
τὰ δ'
And fresh evils, not this time involuntary, it will now disclose. The messenger first referred generally to the horrors of the house of Laius; he now speaks of the suicide of Jocasta and the self-inflicted blindness of Oedipus. Cp. Ant. 1279-1280, τὰ μὲν πρὸ χειρῶν τάδε φέρων, τὰ δ' ἐν δόμοις | ἔοικας ἥκειν καὶ τάχ᾿ ὄψεσθαι κακά. For τὰ δέ without τὰ μέν preceding, see Essay on Language § 39. p. 74. And for ἑκόντα = ἑκούσια, ib. § 50. 3. p. 94. Cp. Ο. C. 977, τό γ' ἶκον πρᾶγμα.
1231.
mvp-comment-698-1
αἱ φανῶσ'
Which are seen to be. For the poetical omission of av, see Essay on Language § 27. p. 45.
1234.
mvp-comment-699-1
The word soonest spoken and soonest heard is this.' λόγος is placed by anticipation in apposition with the clause, τέθνηκε θεῖον Ιοκάστης κάρα. See Essay on Language § 33. P. 57.
1235.
mvp-comment-700-1
θεῖον,
Royal, viz, of the goddescended race of kings. Cp. Hom. Od. 4.691, θείων βασιλήων: also δῖος, διογενής, διοτρεφής, in Epic Greek. 1237 foll. The worst of the calamity is not here, for you do not see it. But still, as far as memory serves me, you shall learn what befel that unhappy lady.' The meaning is, You cannot feel the pain of the event as we did, who saw what passed.' In the description which follows, Jocasta is seen first passing through the hall or peristyle to the inner chamber, which she enters and closes the doors after her. Then in cries which resound through the hall (while she remains unseen of any one), she calls the spirit of Laius to witness the horrors consequent on their nuptial. The household would have followed her, but their attention is arrested by the entrance of Oedipus: who ranges through the hall with loud cries, calling for a weapon, and for the mother-wife. The sound of his approach precipitates the fatal purpose of the queen, who hangs herself in the chamber. Suddenly Oedipus bethinks him that she is there, and with a single effort, he bursts open the bolted doors. He undoes the noose by which she is hanging, and when she is fallen dead, he pulls the buckles from her garments and dashes the points into his eyes.
1239.
mvp-comment-701-1
καν ἐμοί i. e.
As far as my poor memory serves. καί adds emphasis to ἐν ἐμοί. Cp. supr. 1112 and note: O. C. 53, ὅσ᾽ οἶδα κἀγὼ πάντ᾽ ἐπιστήσει κλύων.
1242.
mvp-comment-702-1
ἵετ᾽.. λέχη So of Deianira in Trach. 912 foll. ἐξαίφνης σφ᾽ ὁρῶ τὸν Ἡράκλειον θάλαμον εἰσορμωμένην, κ.τ.λ.
1242.
mvp-comment-702-2
εὐθύ The o in L. is correctly erased by the διορθωτής, in accordance with the usual distinction between the adverbs of time and place.
1243.
mvp-comment-703-1
ὀμφιδεξίοις ἀκμαῖς
With the fingers of both hands at once. For ἀμφιδεξίοις, see Essay on Language p. 101, and ср. О. С. 112, πλευρὸν ἀμφιδέξιον. The word here marks the equal energy with which both hands were used.
1244.
mvp-comment-704-1
πύλας. ἔσω
And after she had entered within the gates, and had shut them violently. This prepares the way for 1261. (1) The house must be supposed of a simple construction, consisting of a court, or αὐλή, with the θάλαμος at the further end secured by folding doors. ἐπιρράσσω like ἐπαράττω in Plat. Prot. 314 D, τὴν θίραν πάνυ προθύμως . . ἐπήραξεν. πύλας, primarily governed by εἰσῆλθε, is to be resumed with ἐπιρρ., which is proleptic, and ἔσω is added to complete the sense of εἰσῆλθε. Otherwise (2) πύλας ἐπιρράξασα, ὅπως εἰσῆλθ᾽ ἔσω,
having violently closed the gate when she had entered within. For such an alternation between the words of different clauses, see Essay on Language § 41. p. 77. Or (3) joining πύλας ἐπιρράξασα ἔσω,
having slammed the door inwards after entering. (1) is best.
1245.
mvp-comment-705-1
The imperfect κάλει without augment (cf. infr. 1249) is retained from the MSS, and agrees with ἵστο and γοᾶτο better than καλεί. Cp. Τr. 904, βρυχάτο. For καλεῖ, which may be thought more vivid. cp. O. С. 1630.
1246.
mvp-comment-706-1
σπερμάτων i. e. παιδοποιϊῶν. For this use of the verbal noun, see Essay on Language § 54. p..99, and cp Plat Legg. 8. 841 D, Polit. 272 E. And for the meaning, Aesch. S. c. T. 750-751.
1247.
mvp-comment-707-1
(1)
And left the mother of his children for his own son to breed from her an unhappy race. This interpretation gives most force to the expression, although supposing an extreme use of abstract for concrete; for which cp. Αj. 1297, ἐφῆκεν ἐλλοῖς ἰχθύσιν διαφθοράν. Or (2), making a pause at τοῖς οἶσιν αὐτοῦ, δύστεκνον παιδουργίαν may be taken in apposition to the sentence,
And left the mother to his own son, an unhappy way of begetting children. Or (3), making τήν demonstrative and παιδουργίαν cognate accus.,
left her to bring forth for his own son a wretched progeny.
1249.
mvp-comment-708-1
The construction is changed, and τέκοι substituted for another verb, i. e. διπλοῦς ἄνδρας σχοίη, ἄνδρα ἐξ ἀνδρὸς τεκοῦσα καὶ τέκνα ἐκ τέκνου.
1249.
mvp-comment-708-2
γοᾶτο The augment is dropt Epicè, as in O. C. 1624, with a consonant preceding.
1251.
mvp-comment-709-1
And after this she perishes, in what way, indeed, I cannot further tell, for Oedipus broke in with cries, and prevented us from seeing out her fatal act.' ἐκθεάσασθαι is to see out the tragedy. Cp. Tr. 929-931.
1256.
mvp-comment-710-1
ὅπου κίχοι, to be joined with ἐξαιτῶν. It is oratio obliqua of ποῦ κίχω.
1257.
mvp-comment-711-1
Her who was the parent earth that had borne himself and his children.'
1260.
mvp-comment-712-1
ὡς ὑφηγητοῦ τινός ‘As if he had some one leading him. Viz. τοῦ δαίμονος. ὑφηγητοῦ, sc. ὄντος: see Essay on Language § 9. §. a. p. 14.
1261.
mvp-comment-713-1
ἐκ δὲ πυθμένων ἔκλινε κοίλα κλήθρα
And he uprooted and forced down the yielding doors. κλῆθρα are probably the doors with their fastenings.
1261.
mvp-comment-713-2
ἐκ πυθμένων implies that the door was torn from its hinges or the bolts from their staples. κοῖλα,
hollowing in. is a
proleptic epithet suggesting the ease with which the obstruction gave way to Oedipus in his paroxysm. κοίλος is a favourite word with Sophocles, who extends the application of this as of some other epithets beyond the common use. Essay on Language p. 103. Cp. Tr. 901, κοίλα δέμνια: Il. 20.446, ἠέρα τύψε βαθείαν. For ἐκ πυθμένων, cp Aesch. Prom. 1047, χθόνα δ᾽ ἐκ πυθμένων | αὐταῖς ῥίζαις πνεῦμα κραδαίνοι. And for the use of κλίνω, cp. Hdt. 9. 9, μεγάλαι κλισιάδες ἀναπεπτέαται. The alliteration of κ, λ, is suggestive of the successful effort. on
1264.
mvp-comment-714-1
ἐμπεπλεγμένην The Laur. MS. reads πλεκταῖσ᾽ ἐώραις ἐμπεπληγμένην ὁ δὲ | ὅπωσδ', in which the form ἐώραις and the meaning of ἐμπεπληγμένην are doubtful, and the second dé in ὅπως δ' is manifestly wrong. Better with MM² πλεκταῖσιν αἰώραισιν ἐμπεπλεγμένην, and either ὁ δε omitted, or the words ὁ δὲ ὅπως δ᾽ ὁρᾷ νιν corrected into ὁ δ᾽ ὡς ὁρᾷ νιν. The tautology of πλεκταῖσιν αἰώραισιν ἐμπεπλεγμένην is not unlike Sophocles (Essay L. § 44. p. 83) and ἐμπεπληγμένην, which is the reading of LE Ven. 617 pr. Vat. 1363, Vat. be. K., although more expressive of the violence of the act,
where she had been dashed into the noose, seems hardly appropriate as a description not of Jocasta hanging herself, but of the dead body already hanging. But for ἐμπλήσσω in this connection, cp. Od. 22. 468 foll.
1264.
mvp-comment-714-2
ὡς δ᾽ ὅταν ἢ κίχλαι τανυσίπτεροι ἠὲ πέλειαι | ἕρκει ἐνιπλήξωσι: and see Hesych.
1264.
mvp-comment-714-3
ἐμπλῆξαι· ἐμπεσεῖν : and for the tense, Il. 16.660, ἐπεὶ βασιλῆα ἴδον βεβλαμμένον ἦτορ. ὁ δέ, with a pause following as well as preceding, cp. supr. 1252, makes a less suitable rhythm than the
end-stopt line. The gloss in Trin. shows the doubtfulness of ἐώρα: ἑώρα διὰ τοῦ ἐ ψιλοῦ, ὅθεν καὶ μετέωρος.
1265.
mvp-comment-715-1
ὁ δ᾽ *ὡς ὁρᾷ νιν Cp. El. 736: Ant. 1226, ὁ δ᾽ ὡς ὁρᾷ σφε.
1266.
mvp-comment-716-1
ἐπεὶ δὲ γῇ The reading ἐπί, ἐκειτ᾿ ἡ Pal. 6 ἐμπεπληγμένην Ε.
1266.
mvp-comment-716-2
ὅπωσ AV3 Trin.
1267.
mvp-comment-717-1
ἔκειτο ἔκειθ' ὁ LAEF. for which cp. supr. 258 (ἐπικυρῶ for ἐπεὶ κυρῶ), has arisen from not recognizing the dative of place.
1267.
mvp-comment-717-2
δεινὰ δ᾽ ἦν The δέ in apodosi adds emphasis. Then what followed was terrible to see.' Triclinius read γ'.
1268.
mvp-comment-718-1
foll. For when he had plucked away from her person the clasps of gold with which her robes were fastened, he lifted them and smote his eye-balls to the root, saying aloud, "That they should not see the evils of which he was the victim, and the cause, but in darkness henceforth should look upon those whom he ought never to have seen, and fail to know those whom he had desired to know."' Herm.'s conjecture, ὄψαιντο,
because they had not seen him, derives considerable plausibility (notwithstanding the doubtfulness of the form) from ἔπασχεν and ἔδρα. But these imperfects, as well as ἔδει and ἔχρηζεν, are to be explained by the implied reference to the past, when his eyes had seen his father in the triple way and his mother in Thebes, whom it would have been better for him never to have seen, and had failed to recognize them, whom he had so longed to know, when the recognition might have saved all. With sharp pathos he now says that in the future his eyes shall not do as in the past. They shall indeed look on those it were best not to have seen (his children, the citizens, his father and mother in Hades, 1371 foll.), but without having sight, and not know those whom he once desired to know (with a double reference to his desire to see his parents and the natural wish to see the faces of his children). For a similar oxymoron in threatening language, cp. Ant. 310 foll., ἵν᾽ εἰδότες τὸ κέρδος ἔνθεν οἰστέον | τὸ λοιπὸν ἁρπάζητε. And for the feeling in oὓς ἔχρηζε, cp. Εl. 1235, εἴδεθ᾽ οὓς ἐχρήζετε. The imperfects indicative in 1273-1274 are in the same construction as those in 1271, and they are not affected by the proposed emendation.
1270.
mvp-comment-719-1
ἄρας – 1276. ἐπαίρων (1)
Lifting the clasps in his hand (ἐπι = 'repeatedly'). Cp. II. 3. 362, πλῆξεν ἀνασχόμενος κόρυθος φάλον. According to others, (2) Lifting his eyes.'
1270.
mvp-comment-719-2
ἄρθρα.. κύκλων
The sockets of his eye-balls. For the periphrasis, cp. supr. 1032. And for κύκλων, Ant. 974, ὀμμάτων κύκλοις, Phil. 1354.
1275.
mvp-comment-720-1
Uttering such a strain withal' (ἐπι = in accompaniment to the act, cp. Hdt. 1. 1,32, ἐπαείδει θεογονίην),
he often and not once only lifted his hand again and smote his eyes. And the pupils all at once rained blood upon his beard, not letting fall moist drops of gore, but all at once was poured the shower of dark red hail. ὁμοῦ means,
not in successive drops, but many coming together (ἀστακτί). Cp. Aesch. Pers. 401, (ὁ πᾶς στόλος ἐπεξεχώρει,) ὄψοιντο Α. 1270 1275 1280 1271. ὄψοιντο] 1274. ὀψοίαθ',.. ν
1275.
mvp-comment-720-2
ἐφυμνῶν ἐφ᾽ ὑμῶν L. 0
1277.
mvp-comment-721-1
ἀνίεσαν ἀνίεσσαν L.
1277.
mvp-comment-721-2
ὄμμτ Μ. γρ. ὄμματα Γ mg. cp.
1277.
mvp-comment-721-3
καὶ παρὴν ὁμοῦ (all at once) κλύειν | πολλὴν βοήν.
1279.
mvp-comment-722-1
ὄμβρος χαλάζης αἱματοῦς The reading of M and that of I mg. suggesting ὀμμάτων, though plausible at first sight, is probably a corruption; cp. infr. 1400. αἱματοῦς is the least possible change from αἵματος. Cp. Hom. Il. 11.53, ἐέρσας αἵματι μυδαλέας. Pind. Isthm. 7.(6.) 27, ὅστις .. χάλαζαν αἵματος πρὸ φίλας πάτρας ἀμύνεται: Ib. 5. 49, Δτός ὄμβρῳ... χαλαζάεντι φόνῳ. 1280-1281. Cp. Tr. 941, ἐκ δυοῖν ἔσοιθ᾽ ἅμα.. ὠρφανισμένος βίου. The repetition of κακά having led to the omission of 1281 in a single MS. (Barocc.) this line was rejected by Elmsley, followed by Dindorf with the rejection of both lines. Porson and Hermann, with more probability, argue that the end of 1280 is corrupt. Pors. conj. οὐχ ἑνὸς μόνου. With respect to the omission of the lines it may be remarked that we must suppose not only an interpolation, but if the suspected verses are cut out, there will also be a lacuna. For 1279 does not connect with 1282. The fact is that such repetitions are not uncommon. Cp. Ο. C. 70, 71, μόλοι, 782-783, κακὰ, κακών, 1487-1488, φρένα, φρενί. For the datives in 1281, cp. Ant, 865, ἐμῷ πατρὶ δυσμόρῳ.
1282.
mvp-comment-723-1
ἦν πάροιθε μέν
Was once happiness in the true sense; but now all happiness is obliterated.' Cp. O. C. 1549, πρόσθε πού ποτ᾽ ἦσθ᾽ ἐμόν.
1283.
mvp-comment-724-1
δικαίως
In the true sense. Cp. Αj. 547, εἴπερ δικαίως ἔστ᾽ ἐμός.
1284.
mvp-comment-725-1
κακῶν ὅσ᾽.. ὀνόματα A slight inversion for κακὰ ὅσων ἐστὶν ὀνόματα, arising from the frequent confusion be tween name and thing. See Essay on Language § 42. p. 80 β. The genitive κακῶν assists the transition to the negative expression, οὐδέν ἐστ᾽ ἀπόν.
